There is nothing better than meatballs with sauce. Whether you serve them with pasta, potatoes or simply on their own the most important thing is to make them light in texture. Follow this recipe for meatballs you make over and over again.For this recipe it makes 3 large meatballs per person so will possibly feed up to 5 people
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Ingredients
Meatballs
- 1 slice good quality white bread crusts removed
- 80 ml milk
- 500 g beef mince
- 1 onion very finely chopped
- 1 tbsp parsely finely chopped
- 3 tbsp paremsan grated
- 1 egg lightly beated
- 1 tsp salt
- pinch nutmeg
- good grinding of black pepper
- vegetable oil for frying
Tomato sauce
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 large onion finely diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 400 g tins plum tomatoes
- 1 tbsp tomato puree
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp dried Italian herbs (or oregano)
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Remove the crusts from the bread, tear into piece, pour over the milk and leave to absorb. Use a fork to mash into a pulp and set aside.
- Next make the tomato sauce. Warm a saucepan and then add the olive oil, let it it warm for a minute then add finely diced onion, minced garlic and allow to sweat on a low heat for up to 10 mins. Add the tomatoes by squeezing them through your fingers to break them up as they drop in the pan and cook for a couple of minutes then add sugar, Italian herbs (or oregano), and salt and pepper and simmer over a low heat for 15-20 mins.
- The secret to a very light meatball is to not over mix. Put all the meatball ingredients including the soaked white bread and with a very light touch, mix together until all combined being careful to not squeeze the meat. To test seasoning, take a tiny piece and cook. Roll the meat into 12-16 balls approximately 4 cm in diameter.
- In a sauté pan large enough to hold all the meatballs, cover the base with 1 cm of vegetable oil. Drop in the balls and brown all over. Remove with a slotted spoon, remove the excess oil from the pan, return the browned meatballs, pour over the tomato sauce, cover and leave to simmer over a very low heat for 25 minutes.
- Serve with a sprinkle of parsley and a grating of parmesan.
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